EULAFF is supported by the European Commission Directorate-General
for Research

EULAFF Events 2008

Workshop on “Opportunities for new functional food, healthcare and wellness products”

8-9 December 2008 - Gent, Belgium

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Some Latin American plants with health-related attributes have the potential to satisfy the growing international demand for foods, healthcare and wellness products with high nutritional and functional value, especially in Europe.  Thus it is important to promote the development of export markets for functional food products from Latin American agro-biodiverse crops.  This need is being addressed in the EC project EULAFF (European Action on Latin American Functional Foods; http://www.efb-central.org/eulaff/). 

The commercial development of a functional food sector and its corresponding supply chain has the potential to significantly contribute to the economic development of Latin American countries, which , along with the development of a European functional foods sector, is the main purpose of EULAFF.

In addition, identification of the active ingredients in these foods, and characterisation of their therapeutic and pharmacological activities would provide new opportunities in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and ingredients sectors.

Previous workshops held by EULAFF demonstrated a number of promising value chains that have been identified by Latin American research teams and that are of potential interest for European companies in the food, drinks and pharmaceutical sectors.

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Journey on “Functional Foods and Biotechnology”

30 September 2008 - Sao Paulo, Brasil

Within the framework of BIOLATINA 2008, a special journey has been planned to discuss the scientific developments, commercial innovations and business opportunities in the emerging sector of Functional Foods, which is taking the lead in the market of the developed world. The Journey is sponsored by FELAEB (Latin American Federation of Associations of Bioenterprises), BioEurolatina Association, the EFB (European Federation of Biotechnology) and the EULAFF Project (“Europe-Latin America Action on Functional Foods”) funded by the European Commission. A number of recognized experts and entrepreneurs from the European and Latin American functional food industry will participate. 

Programme:
Programme (English)
Programa (Español)

Symposium on “Biocommerce of agricultural crops with health-beneficial traits”

21-23 August 2008 - Lima, Peru

The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), BioEuroLatina Association (BEL), the National University of San Marcos (UNMSM) of Peru, Foundation PROINPA of Cochabamba-Bolivia, and the Programme of BioTrade of Peru, have united efforts to organize this Symposium, within the framework of the EULAFF Project “Latin America-Europe Action on Functional Foods”, which has the economic support of the European Comisión (EC).  The symposium also has the institutional sponsorship of the Ministries of Industries and of Foreign Trade & Tourism of Peru, as well as the Peruvian Association of Exporters (ADEX).
Programme:
Programme (English)
Programa (Español)

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Debate on “Economic valorisation of agro-biodiverse crops”

6-8 May 2008 - Porto, Portugal

The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), the Association BioEurolatina (BEL) and the Escola Superior de Biotecnología of the Portuguese Catholic University (ESB-UCP) have joined efforts to organize the Debate on “Economic valorisation of agro-biodiverse crops: food industry position on intellectual property rights”. This activity will held on May 6-8 2008 in Porto, Portugal, within the International Functional Foods Conference in the framework of CYTED (Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo), one of the reference program for scientific and technological cooperation in Ibero-America.

SCOPE: Discuss strategic issues in the innovation, development and commercialization process of new functional food products, both in Europe and Latin America, highlighting the opportunities, hurdles and challenges to be overcome, from the position of the food industry, with particular emphasis on IPR regulations.

Programme:
Programme (English)

For further information please visit www.esb.ucp.pt/iffc/

Debate on “Traditional knowledge biodiversity and functional foods”

31 March - 1 April 2008 - Mexico City

Functional foods are those foods that provide an additional benefit for the health, improving the quality of life. In some cases, its development has involved the experience and knowledge of indigenous communities which have been orally transmitted from generation to generation, also known as the traditional knowledge; as well as the biological diversity that the same communities have preserved.

How to achieve a sustainable development of functional foods, based on the traditional knowledge and biodiversity of Latin America, in such a way that it provides an equitable and fair benefit to the indigenous communities and to those who commercialize them? Why is it important to focus efforts of Europe and Latin America in this common development? How can the Intellectual Property Rights promote the equitable distribution of the benefits?

These are some of the questions that we wish to answer in the “Debate on Traditional Knowledge Biodiversity and Functional Foods”, that will take place in the City of Mexico on March 31st and April 1st of 2008, organized within the framework of the activities of the EULAFF Project.

Organized by:
CCADET– Center of Applied Sciences and Technology Development of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-UNAM
EFB – European Federation of Biotechnology
BioEuroLatina – Association for the promotion of biotechnology in Latin America in cooperation with Europe

Sponsored By: 
CamBioTec AC and CYTED.

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Programme (English)
Programa (Español)

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EULAFF Events 2007

Lectures on “Traditional medicinal plants and other uses of Amazonian Crops”

3-5 December 2007 - Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

This activity was held on December 3-5 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under the auspices of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária.  Main experts, including ethnobotanists, from Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela were invited to give a lecture on the use of traditional medicinal plants and use of other native Amazonian species, with special emphasis on food applications and treatment for food related diseases.

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Programme (English)

Presentations:
4th December

5th December

Symposium “Biodiversity and intellectual property rights: building a new functional food chain”

22-25 October 2007 - Viña del Mar, Chile

This symposium took place in October 2007 in Viña del Mar (Chile), within the framework of the 6th Latin American Plant Biotechnology Meeting-REDBIO 2007, the main plant biotechnology regional conference held every three years. Fundación Chile leaded this activity.
The Symposium was addressed different aspect of the regulatory subject on functional food, ranging from: IPR and quality regimes in Europe; new biotechnology evaluation models; food biodiversity from native crops; traditional knowledge; biosafety and risk assessment; innovation opportunities in Latin America; contraction of the innovation pipeline in the developed world; and the goals of the EULAFF project related to the symposium theme. The discussion raised some important issues, such as: the challenge for agri-food researchers and innovators to manage a high and growing number of patents; the role of PIPRA initiative at UC-Davis; the asymmetry observed between developed and developing countries to obtain an adequate IP protection because of regulatory barriers; the importance to have in place efficient regulatory bodies in order to promote innovation at the enterprise; the new EU legislation on health and nutrition; the need to define a fluid mechanism to decide and correct decisions related to food safety in the European Union (EESA); the emergence of new food products that can improve human metabolism or other functions; the need to improve and build capacities at the institutional regulatory bodies in Latin American countries; and the importance to put in place sound campaigns to duly inform the public in order to avoid rejection of GM food products because of ignorance; among other.

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Roundtable “European IPR position on functional foods”

17-19 September 2007 - Barcelona, Spain

This Roundtable organized by European Federation of Biotechnology and held on September 18th 2007 during the 13th European Congress on Biotechnology in Barcelona, was a good opportunity to discuss current regulatory issues under the perspective of Latin America and Europe speakers and panellists present, from Mexico (UNAM, IMPI), Brazil (EMBRAPA), Portugal (UCP), Spain (BioEuroLatina, SEBIOT, EFB) and the Netherlands (IPBO). It has been emphasized that European countries’ biosafety and quality regulations are so strict that the cost of its implementation has a high impact in reduced sales, and hence are restricting investment in functional food based on GM crops. These strict EU regulations also strongly limits imports from developing countries. Likewise, it has been proposed to elaborate a Best Practice Guidelines on the IPR management of traditional knowledge associated to the use of native crops for functional food products.

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Programme (English)

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EULAFF Events 2006